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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

I will be taking orders again, please take the time to seriously think about this, when you order from me, my prices are reflecting the cost of the ingredients in the final product. I've reduced my pricing when I relocated to Iowa from Arkansas since Iowa does not have a food tax and that the prices are somewhat cheaper.

However, when you go to say Hy Vee or say Dahl's Foods Bakery or another majory grocery store chain through out Iowa Fareway Stores their bakery items are sold as a mass production item that keeps the costs down, yet they're more expensive than you really think. They have the additives and preservatives that I do not use.

Many other bakers like myself try to provide a great tasting product without the mass production price. In other words we're doing something that's more personal and fresh for the person(s) who ordered the item. I don't always have a price for every single item I can bake for a person but if special requested I quote on the spot depending on that item for a cost.

I take in consideration I use large eggs in many of my baking items and I use all purpose flour unless it's a special order requiring a cake flour (All purpose flour is the standard flour for home baking, but a glance down a well equipped grocery store baking aisle is enough to tell you that there are many other types of flour available for baking. Cake flour is one of them and, if you like to bake, it should be a staple in your kitchen. Cake flour is a low protein flour that is made from soft winter wheat. It has a protein content of about 8% and is usually bleached, which gives it a very fine texture and a very light color. Because it has such a fine texture, cake flour should be sifted before incorporating it into a recipe to prevent clumping.) Cake flour is more pricey and effective in the recipe that it is called for.

For every single item in the final product I figure up the total number of cups a bag of flour is at the current price and divide by the number of cups. Example: One cup of flour equals four ounces. With 16 ounces in one pound, you'll have four cups in one pound, or 20 cups in a five-pound bag. That bag of flour is $1.90 or about 10 cents a cup. This is a rough estimate of the cheapest cost of flour. I do this for each item that a recipe calls for, then I figure in my time as if I was working in a bakery, this is how I come up with the final cost.

So please take it in stride and for what it's worth to you the commercial price and look of what it is that you're wanting or the home baked with personal touch and with you in mind.